Thursday letters: Executive power, tenure, college baseball

Copyright 2014: Houston Chronicle

Updated 7:20 pm, Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Executive power

Regarding "Cruz seizes on legal angles to rip Obama"(Page A1, Sunday), President Obama has used executive action less than any other U.S. president. One must laugh when the article says U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz thinks the president is hiding a crime in Benghazi and says "in the nonpolitical world it used to be called obstruction."

The laugh is because the massive unprecedented obstruction of President Obama by the GOP is the reason for his use of executive power. People on the liberal side will pause and wonder how President Obama has used so much restraint in his use of executive power.

Regarding "HISD extends deadline for input on funding magnet programs" (Page B1, Monday), it does not make sense to adopt a "one-formula fits all" approach, particularly when we are talking about education.

T.H. Rogers Middle School has a unique population of special needs students. Since the needs are different, we should make budget numbers work to serve the students, rather than rely on an arbitrary formula which does not reflect reality.

Regarding "Cancer center in tenure dispute" (Page A1, Saturday), M.D. Anderson President Dr. Ronald DePinho responded to the American Association of University Professors that, "we have a responsibility to our patients and to our public that our faculty and staff maintain the highest level of excellence … " - presumably implying that the faculty members denied renewal did not meet these standards.

The Faculty Senate Committee charged with investigating the denial of tenure renewal for these faculty members determined that their productivity (publications, funding, teaching, service) and outside recognition was comparable to, or exceeded, that of their peers approved by the president in the same period.

Regarding "Super regional flap a sign of UH's predicament on college landscape" (Page C1, Monday), money rules all in the world of college athletics. University of Houston athletic director Mack Rhoades can complain all he wants about not hosting either a regional or super regional, but in spite of me being a long-time football season ticket holder, my place in line for the seat selection process at the new stadium was based upon one thing: how much money I was willing to donate to UH.

Mack can't have it both ways. He can't expect to base seating priority on money and then not expect the NCAA to want to make the most money by awarding UT the super regional over UH.